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"Ruby, Linda said we’d be learning how to strengthen and reinforce the fault line so nothing… bad can get through You sound like you think soh"

"Derek didn’t senddoes break out, you ladies are what stands between it and harht, Ruby added, "Think of Derek as a sheriff, and he’s prettydeputies That’s what I’ether, but nodded When they’d arrived, there’d been the usual atether On a nory as done, Ruby knew they usually sat down to the wine and tee Hundreds of years ago, when the very first all-female coven had been formed, Ruby suspected it had been that way They’d perforical function to help crops, protect or heal family, but in the aftere and service, the building blocks of the female world A different, but no less important, kind of circle

She’d just introduced a new eleroups didn’t face As a result, Miriam’s somber expression, her trace of uncertainty, was now reflected in the other faces in the circle

"Let’s do that meditation," Linda interjected "The Lord and Lady are with us They’ll guide us, steady us Help us learn what needs to be learned, and knohat questions need answers"

The ladies settled into their preferred resting states, eyes closing The five-minute meditation started with a Goddess chant to focus thenext to her and began to play a haunting Native Arass-covered plains It was easy to i between those tide expanses, connecting to the energies above, below and within, as well as the surrounding elements, all infused with divine power The focus of the coven intensified, that energy condensing around thehout the playing of the piece, set the ind aside and joined theht sounds take over as a natural extension of her hout She ed around each of theest, most focused But beyond that, she didn’t need the ic into herself as needed, as easily as picking up a pencil to write

A pink ht settled It looked vulnerable yet enduring, soer did At least not until Derek Stormwind had walked back into her shop

Holy Goddess, could she string three sentences together in herher eyes, she took a few deep breaths, synchronizing with the others While she didn’t need it for her ical purposes, the preparatory meditation connected the circle, connected her to the other woh she’d held off fro as she could, curiously reluctant

As she tapped into that flow, the alluring peace and tranquility that came with such spiritual sisterhood, no ht a bittersweet feeling Grief An e thirteen woe, childhood-- of life itself, from the uniquely female perspective

The Dark part of her recoiled froerous provocation Then Linda reached out, took her ice-cold hand Robin, the wo the Ruby had an overwheline Raina’s long-nailed, elegant fingers, or Ramona’s chapped paled, chewed off Raina had sometimes playfully rubbed one of her oicked nails across Ruby’s palh

"Blessed be," murmured Robin It was picked up and continued around the circle until it came back to Linda When she lifted her head, Ruby sensed it, opened her eyes Linda looked at her expectantly

"Blessed be," Ruby said, though the words stuck in her throat "All right, then" Giving Linda’s and Robin’s hands a brisk, functional squeeze, she drew her hands back to herself "First lesson is feeling the fault line itself, its contours and shape, and taking our wards and protections with us e stretch out in a line to do that This circle is a powerful place, but that fault line is even thening it, which is a different kind of ‘circle,’ just as three-dimensional, because reme True y as an extre to do it properly, correcting bad habits or carelessness that developed fro monthly routine prayer circles When she called for a break three hours later, that h in the sky and the wo, the cotton ritual robes they’d donned clinging to their skin As soon as Ruby said they were done for the night, they closed down the circle and headed up to the house in weary clu extra to it, before, didn’t you?"

Ruby cocked her head "I don’t know Did I?"

"It felt like a different energy than our usual casting, an additional protection, of sorts I thought itMr Stormwind left, but it felt like you"

Ruby almost smiled Mr Stormwind, indeed "Yes, I did an additional protection before you arrived You have good instincts Keep working on that"